When we feel lost we sometimes need to take time, to stand still, and let the outside world speak to us, rather than just listening to the voices in our own minds.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost.
Stand still.
The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.
David Wagoner, Lost [estract]
It’s quite illusory to hang on to a private, hidden, truer self apart from how you actually are,
even if therapy promotes this grand illusion and profits from it.
Instead, the realism of Heraclitus: You are how you are.
James Hillman
The principles of all things arise without effort,
Water does not need to think to offer itself as a home for clear moonlight.
Sōgi 1421–1502, Japanese poet
Letting ourselves sink. Coming to rest. Resting….Images from nature can be useful in meditation practice.
Suppose someone is holding a pebble and throws it in the air and the pebble begins to fall down into a river. After the pebble touches the surface of the water, it allows itself to sink slowly into the river. It will reach the bed of the river without any effort. Once the pebble is at the bottom of the river, it continues to rest. It allows the water to pass by.
I think the pebble reaches the bed of the river by the shortest path because it allows itself to fall without making any effort. During our sitting meditation we can allow ourselves to rest like a pebble.
Resting is a very important practice; we have to learn the art of resting. You should allow your body and your mind to rest. The problem is that not many of us know how to allow our body and mind to rest. We are always struggling; struggling has become a kind of habit. We cannot resist being active, struggling all the time. It is very important to realize that we have the habit energy of struggling.
Our mind as well as our body needs to rest.… Only if we know how to allow them to rest can our body and our soul heal themselves.
Thich Nhat Hahn, Rest in the River
Buddhism may be summed up in two phrases: “Let go!” and “Walk on!”
Drop the craving for self, for permanence, for particular circumstances, and go straight ahead with the movement of life
Alan Watts
Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā
[“Gone, Gone, Gone beyond, Completely gone to the Other Shore. Oh what an Awakening”]
The final lines of the Heart Sutra considered by some Buddhists the perfection of all wisdom – Pragya Paramita- finding a pace of rest, a stability that is beyond all coming or going.
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